Maximum
Vincent Gallo. He co-wrote it, directed it, starred in it, and composed songs for the score (
shudder). Gallo is Billy Brown, a
loser who is released from
prison at the beginning of the film. He had served time for a crime that he didn't commit in order to avoid a
bookie, whom he owed $10,000 dollars for the 1991
Superbowl (the
Bills lost to the
Redskins, I think).
The film's structure is based on Billy's intent to track down and get his revenge on the Bills kicker who screwed up the game. Billy kidnaps a young woman (Christina Ricci) whom he talks into posing as his wife to impress his blue-collar parents, on a stop before he tracks down the kicker. His mother (Anjelica Huston) is a Bills fanatic, and his father (Ben Gazzara) barely says a word to anyone in favor of glumly watching TV. He sings a song - I forget what it was, but it's crooner-style - in the middle of the film. It's like an entre'act - and is actually a recording of Gallo's own father. Both of them think of Billy as something unpleasant stuck on their shoes, but Layla (Ricci) makes Billy seem like a righteous dude, and even starts thinking so herself, despite the fact that he's rude to her.
Gallo filmed in the house in Buffalo where he once lived with his parents. The film is Gallo's tangible evidence of artistry; a thumbing of the nose to his parents, who told him that he would never be an actor because he was too ugly. Don't get me wrong -- he's no Ryan Phillipe, but he's acting, and all sorts of other odd things.